[eropple]

I think it is worth considering whether you may have the arrow of causality backwards. For tech specifically; your second paragraph is right on point. The folks I know who've got a fundamental grounding in the stuff you listed (and I count myself among them) all seemed to have an understanding of What Makes Systems Good before doing so. In many ways it becomes the naming of parts along with elaboration upon fairly basic ideas.

I do not believe in the idea of a bimodal distribution of software development (not just programming) aptitude, but I sometimes wonder.

(Regardless, I don't call myself an engineer. Engineers get sued if their stuff doesn't work. I'm a software developer, no matter how good and careful I might be.)